starting all over again
by i.eccentrica
Summary: Sakura gets sent back into the past to save a doomed future,but how can she do it when she has to avoid everyone she knew and if things get worst, asume the the identity of Sakura's long lost aunt?
1. because endings are beginnings

"**I am a person who's fighting an ever losing battle. But losing doesn't mean you've lost"**

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If I had a second chance, I would take it, grab it, embrace it.

I'm a failure in life; I lost two of the most precious people to me. One to shame and another to shadow.

I'm ashamed to even say that I was ever a teammate to Uzumaki Naruto. He who vowed to bring _him_ back……. just for me.

To the man I loved and cherish every moment with, although he never returned it, I am nothing more than burden, a rock blocking his path. Just to summarize it up, I am weak. I was too weak to stop him and too weak to make him see that I was worth coming back for.

All I did was cry. How I hate that word, cry. Was it because I could do nothing more? I stood there watching them fight my battles for me. Would it even make a different if I was even on _their_ team?

I am a person who's fighting an ever losing battle. But losing doesn't mean you've actually lost right?

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"SAKURA!! GO NOW" her words cut right thru me.

"tsu-tsuna-de- sama-, I ca- I can't do it" tears were streaming down my face, mixing with the sweat that drenched my clothes.

" YES YOU CAN,YOU HAVE SURPASSED ME IN MANY WAYS , NOW GO. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO I S BELIVE IN YOURSELF "it pained me so to see someone put so much trust into what I could do and achieve, only to see their dreams smashed and shattered.," TAKE THIS BUT DON'T OPEN IT UNTILL YOUR SAVE" she pressed something against my chest, it was a parcel wrapped with a pink ribbon, a parting gift perhaps.

"h-hai" I turned around, regretting what I said. Any moment now I wish that I would awaken from this nightmare, to see my former sensei's face before me smiling instead of the distorted and bloody one before me.

"sakura-"I turned around to meet my former sensei's face , half expecting to hear her asking me to come back. What I heard next crushed me.

"Good-bye"

red.

orange.

black.

Her words rang thru my ears. "good-bye" what was that suppose to mean? I unconsciously held the parcel tighter while running for my life, dodging every fiery falling pillar, every crumbling wall, ignoring all the cries for help around me. It's so ironic, to think I was a medic-nin, the one who would make it out alive instead of my sensei.

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On a hill that over looks the great village of Konoha, the _once_ great village of Konoha. Now it's nothing left but fallen buildings and a fiery grave, of all the people that could have survived, I was the only one. My once silky bubblegum pink locks that I cared so much about is now drenched with sweat and sticking to my face but I didn't seem to notice, my mind was too focused on what just happened.

I think back to the words she said to me, "all you need to do is believe in yourself" what did she want me to do? And" good-bye"? could she have know this would happen?

Sadly, it all lead up to one conclusion, but it was too late anyway because there's no more second chances, no point crying over spilled milk. Konoha and everyone in it was gone, burn to a cinder.

My eyes darted to the parcel Tsunade gave to me, the last thing I had to remind me of Konoha. I slowly unwrapped it, it was…. an hourglass and a picture of the old team 7.

I softly caress the glass frame of the picture, letting the memories flood back in.

The hourglass was cold to the touch, there was a sort of tingling sensation like being pricked by thousands of pins and needle, it stared at my fingers and slowly spread to my whole body. I tilted the hourglass vertically to see the sand in it drop but weirdly nothing happened and for a moment there I could have sworn that the grass stopped swaying in the wind and the birds were silence from their chirping just as if time had stopped. But then again, it could have been my imagination because my village just got burned down, and I'd probably lost my sanity already.

I looked back to the hourglass, two grains had dropped in it but no more, the third was suspended in mid-air. "How in the-"I dropped the hourglass because darkness was enclosing around me, when did my eyelids become so heavy? There was no point fighting it, my body was too worn out. I let the darkness claim me. It was like de-ja vu all over again.

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"Arrrggghhh… I hurt all over "I open my eyes to be met with the Mt. Rushmore like mountain that over looked Konoha with all the past hokage's faces craved into it, only this time there were only 4.

"oh great..."


	2. of apples and spirals

**Recap **

"_Arrrggghhh… I hurt all over "I open my eyes to be met with the mt. Rushmore like mountain that over looked Konoha with all the past hokage's faces craved into it but this time there were only 4._

"_oh great…."_

Disclaimer: It's a good thing I don't own Naruto, because who knows which gutter it and me would be in if I did. But I'll proudly say that I do own the plot.

Remember to read the A/N at the end!!

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**Starting all over again**

**Chapter 2**

Of apples and spirals

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**By **

Midnight shimmer

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Now you may ask why I, Haruno Sakura am bagging my head into the nearest tree I see? Well, it's simple really, because when the big guy up there decides to take your already broken life and throw it down to something lower than 0, it usually works. So I guess I'm stuck in this logic defining situation, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

Why my life is not looking up today

I, haruno sakura being a genius, have decided that there are only 4 faces on that ridiculously huge mountain.

Witnessing the death of your teacher and closest friends is not good for health.

I'm very sure something is bound to happen to make my day worst, and when you're stuck in this situation that defines all logic, expect pigs to fly.

I am not surprised right now that I am walking towards my supposed-to-be-destroyed- to- a-cinder town in nothing but my sadistic excuse for a coat that hides my vibrant pink hair, although it's stained with blood that doesn't belong to me, a few dozen kunai , exploding tags , a couple of smoke bombs and the picture of the former team 7 my late teacher had gave me.

Judging by the meadow I'm standing in and the fact that I haven't seen a single person pass by this place, it makes sense (with all the sense I have left) that I am in the outskirts of Konoha. Passing by trees and bushes that look suspiciously young and newly planted, it comes to my mind that this forest is manmade, the trees that made the canopy were too tall to let enough sunshine pass through to make it even possible for the trees on the forest floor to survive, this forest was either waiting to keep something in or something out. Something is very wrong here, but since my brain was too tired to think I just dismissed the thought.

I am walking through the city of Konoha, getting through the cities gate was relatively easy, it's no wonder we lost the war. The hood I wore hid my face and hair, since you don't see many people these days with pink hair, 10 years from now or not.

People pass me while going on with their daily lives, to them I'm just another commoner taking a walk down the streets, a few people give me weird glances mainly for the fact that I'm stained in blood ,only to look away few seconds later. They probably think I'm just another spoiled brat who just got into a fight.

Konoha looked a bit different, with lest tall building and more people. The population had decreased drastically a few years before the war had started, people were migrating away to Suna or some other village in searched of a safer place. The only people who stayed were the ninjas, some very loyal, perhaps foolish villagers and the Hokage herself. The streets were always deserted, more than half the village was gone, and no one came out anymore. No one cared to sell daily items and food and no one cared to buy them. The village of Konoha was dying and I could do nothing to help.

I pass a vendor selling apples, looking at the green and red glistening fruits made my stomach growl. I had no money with me and I haven't eaten for days. There was only one way to do this.

I had to steal.

I'll admit I've never done this in my life, but come on; it's just an apple, no harm done right? I'll just walk up to the man and ask him a question and when he's not noticing I'll secretly grab an apple, no one will ever know, right?

I walked up to the man, now for a question. My brains is still kinda numb from this morning, What am I going to ask?! But it's too late to turn back now, since I'm already in front of the vendor staring at him. It was either I lose my stomach and starve to death or my dignity since I'm staring like an escaped psychopath.

I slapped on a smile and parted my mouth to say something, anything. And as if on impulse by some freaky force I asked in my sweetest voice,

"Excuse me, but could you tell me the date today?"

I took advantage of the time the vendors eyes darted to the sky to recall the date. In a split second I reached out and grabbed an apple into my coat. Mission accomplished. Maybe I should stea- cough take another one?

"Aa…it should be October 15, 2008."

"Wh-hat?!" instead of saying thank you as I planned and getting as far away as possible I just had to say that.

2008? That can't be right! That should be10 years ago, it should have been 2018! And that's when reality slapped me in the face. The hour-glass, the missing face and the city. There was only one explanation.

Time travel.

Why didn't I think of it earlier? Must have something to so with my scrambled up brain at the moment. Tsunade- sensei must have done some forbidden jutsu with that hour glass and somehow found a loophole in time. Crap! I totally forgot about the hourglass.

"Err…. miss, Are you alright?

"Huh? Oh… sure, I'm fine" I replied finally returning to reality and breaking my train of thoughts.

"ok if you say so- HEY ! Isn't that my apple, your trying to steal it!!"

Shit, I cursed. What kind of kuniochi am I? I can't even steal a God damn apple!!

I didn't notice that I was holding the apple out of my coat, must have subconsciously did it when I was so caught up when I was thinking. Guess it's time to run, damn, should have taken more apples. Before I could break into a run, someone next to me spoke.

"Don't worry sir; I'll pay for her, I'm sure she wont cause anymore trouble for you"

I looked to the side wondering who this person could be to pay for a complete stranger, only to turn my face down immediately hoping this person wouldn't recognize me at the age of 23.

There in all his glory, with the same unmistakable foxy grin and orange jump suite stood

Uzumaki Naruto.

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At 12.

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**A/N: **Hope you guys liked it! Although I find it too short, sorry if I haven't updated in 4 months or so. I was kinda giving up on this story already. 

I find this plot very interesting since every time travel fic I read is about Sakura in her 12 year old self getting sent into the past and so on…. So I'll put Sakura in her 23 self and throw her into the past. Keep in mind that Sasuke and the others are all at the age they are when the manga started.

Tell me if you think this story is moving too slowly or if I should make this a **SASUSAKU** fic. I really need advice. Thanks.

It was practically brain killing to decide who to put as the first person Sakura meets in Konoha after the time skip. I was thinking about putting Ino, Sasuke or Kakashi but I finally ended up with Naruto. There will be more surprises coming along so keep reading!

Reviews keep me going!!


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